


A Meeting of Generals

by GretchenSinister



Category: Guardians of Childhood & Related Fandoms, Rise of the Guardians (2012), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21528640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: I hope that the people who know what I’m talking about enjoy this.
Kudos: 6
Collections: The Kozmotis Collection





	A Meeting of Generals

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 1/3/2016.

It had been an exploratory mission for both of them, a search at the edge of known space for allies against the darkness.

General Organa allows herself a small, rueful smile as the green grass of the _Aphelion’s_ promenade deck bends under her boots. Her whole ship could fit inside this extravagant bubble. She wishes she’d brought along a few tech officers so they could try to determine how it was possible–the man walking beside her hadn’t known, himself.

Ah, well. It wasn’t as if the rebellion would be able to gather the resources, or have the purpose, to make a ship like this for quite some time, even if things progressed perfectly smoothly, and they wouldn’t. Wonder that the Constellans still had the resources. But maybe they just spared no expense for this particular commanding officer.

She _was_ admittedly curious about his offhand assumption that magic had something to do with that clear, seamless curve of material revealing the blackness of space overhead, broken up only faintly by stars, out here. The magic she’d known hadn’t ever done anything so harmlessly useful. 

But she doesn’t want to belabor the point. She’d rather…well, she’d rather just spend a few moments talking to this man, her opposite number, according to rank.

It had been so long since she had met someone who knew absolutely nothing about her. 

It had been so long since he had met someone who knew absolutely nothing about him.

The thought was an astonishing relief to General Pitchiner, as much as a relief as it had been when General Organa hadn’t so much as batted an eye when he answered the request for parley with Sera asleep on his shoulder. As he hitched her up a little higher on his hip while walking through the embarrassingly extravagant ship’s park, he had the vague feeling that perhaps General Organa had once done something similar.

He felt sympathy for the Rebellion already, if they allowed that sort of thing. The Constellan Council would have reprimanded him for it. As Cybele had told him, the Golden General had never been envisioned as a family man. 

Which was why Sera and Cybele were both here, of course. A refusal to let the Golden General take his family on a non-combat mission wouldn’t have played well with the public, and Cybele had taken ill–too ill–after a diplomatic soiree just before the mission had been due to leave. She was recovering right now, and that left Kozmotis fully responsible for Sera, as he chose to be, when he was around. Even when that meant answering an official comm with a four-year-old drooling onto his shoulder.

“Was there anything else you wanted to ask?” Kozmotis paused and turned to Leia. “I can give you reams of information on the Fearlings, a lot of it more first-hand than I would like. I’m afraid I haven’t fully understood the nature of the darkness you’re facing. The…Constellan Council states that all forms of darkness are related, and are to be eradicated, but, let me say, they do not have the empirical experience to back that up.”

Leia looked over at him, meeting his eyes without giving the impression that she was looking _up_ at him, a technique she’d mastered long ago and one sorely needed when talking to this General Pitchiner. “I know I’ve been vague, General. I’ve been advised that there are certain things I should keep to myself when encountering new, potential allies. But I also know that nothing makes sense without them being told, and that I’m the best one to tell the story.”

Sera made a troubled, sleepy sound, and Kozmotis rubbed her back until she was sleeping just as deeply as before.

Leia nodded toward her–stalling for time, just a bit. There was a lot of temptation to break here, just a little, to this utter stranger. But if she couldn’t control her voice now, the story would never be told comprehensibly. “She’s lucky–you both are–to have her here like this,” she said.

“I know,” Kozmotis said simply.

Damn it for being such a common phrase. Another pause. Too long, but General Pitchiner said nothing. “There would have been no objection for me taking my family on my mission, as well…but you see…” She cleared her throat. “My position in the Rebellion is one I would probably not have had without the legacy of my adoptive parents, but the legacy that I am struggling with now–that has links to the darkness we fight against–is related inextricably to my biological father, and…and my son. It isn’t an easy story to tell, but as I said, nothing will make sense without it.”

“In the park, no one can listen with anything but their own ears,” Kozmotis said. “It’s one of its advantages. You can tell me. General to General. Or…parent to parent. I’ll make sure that nothing that could endanger you gets back to the Constellan Council. I’ve said traitorous things here myself, already.”

“I’ll tell you about my father, then, to start,” Leia said. “The way I tell it may not be suitable for the vids, I warn you.”

“I know how soldier’s stories, and family stories, get told,” Kozmotis said quietly.

* * *

“Stars preserve us,” Kozmotis said, hours later, “that anything of that nature should infect the Constellan Empire. I…” he trailed off, watching Sera run to and fro, just out of hearing, her nightgown flapping behind her. “I can’t imagine the burden of knowing that a turn to such a dark side as you describe is possible. And the rending of families that follows….If I….I mean to think of my Sera and I…to think of Cybele…”

“Yes, you have been very lucky that the darkness you face is apparently external,” Leia said. “But are you sure–that is to say, is the idea of a choice between dark and light within yourself so difficult to imagine? Truly?”

“Truly!” Kozmotis exclaimed. “I cannot imagine what could ever make me change so, to throw away all my bonds of love, to throw away my _name_ ….”

“I can,” Leia said flatly. “I can, and I think it is better to know. How could I be truly on the side of light, in any way, without knowing and rejecting my own darkness?”

Kozmotis paused for a long, long time. “You are lucky that you are able to ask such a question. I’m not in a position to do so–never aloud, and never so boldly. And even in the safety of the park, still it unnerves me. I will have to put it from my mind to prevent myself from ever raising it where it could be heard. I was chosen to have no darkness in me. And it is too late now for me to dare to ask what might happen if I did.” He turned to her and looked at her solemnly. “General Organa, I believe that you are eminently suited for your battle against the darkness. But I am not suited for your battle, and neither are you suited for the Constellan Empire’s. We would not be good allies to you, not with the Council’s understanding of the nature of light and darkness.”

“I understand, General Pitchiner,” Leia said. “Thank you for your honesty. I will not tell my story to any other Constellan ships I encounter. And yet…well, I thank you for allowing me to tell my story to someone who hasn’t heard it before.”

“I am honored that you told it to me,” General Pitchiner said. “I wish you well, General Organa.”

“May the Force be with you,” Leia said, already reaching for her comm as Sera ran up and wrapped her arms around Kozmotis’ legs with a happy shriek.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes and Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> #fuck I don't know what tags to use#this is like relevant to 3 people#WHAT EVEN AM I DOING#living the sad general life#Koz please get your shit together before it becomes the entire galaxy's problem
> 
> sylphidine reblogged this from gretchensinister and added:  
> I know I’ve reblogged this before, but it’s appropriate once again.
> 
> emeraldembers reblogged this from gretchensinister and added:  
> *digs a hole in the garden**rips my own heart from my chest with my bare hands**buries it*PERHAPS NOW I WILL NO LONGER BE CAPABLE OF FEELING PAIN #this is amazing #kill me now


End file.
